This post is so overdue that I almost didn’t want to share it now. Why? Because I was up until 3AM on Christmas Eve finishing these three books. And I’m still working on three more for my other niece and nephews who live out of town. {bad girl} I told myself that it was too late to share because the holiday is over.

But, what made me decide to go ahead and share is that this is the type of project that you can make anytime of the year, not just Christmas. Birthdays, Easter, Just Because, etc.

They turned out awesome. Exactly like I visioned them.

Book lovers please close your eyes for this part. I found six old books at an antique store all the same size (somewhere close to 5 x 7). I cut the front and back covers off leaving the pages attached to the spine. They’ll get used later for some handmade cards. The ring binder clips were purchased from Hobby Lobby. Much cheaper than what the local office supply store was selling them for. It pays to price check before buying.

I love working with chipboard. Any shape or color, I love it all. It’s the first thing I look for when entering the craft store. Even if I don’t need any.

Spelling out my niece and nephews names I positioned the letters on the front covers. Aubrie’s already had a design so no color was needed for hers. For the boys I used spray inks. Use an empty shoe box, it helps control the mess of ink from spreading on the counter.

Using hot glue and a few other coordinating chipboard shapes I put together the covers. Rubberstamps filled in the empty spaces (refer to the opening image).

Sorry, I forgot to take an image of the inside of the book covers. You can see them in the photos below. It’s real simple. I covered the inside with a piece of patterned paper. They were signed and dated on this portion.

Remember my earlier posts when I was doing the prep work for the pages? Click here and here if you missed those. Eight pages (of recycled boxes) is what I decided on for each book. Front and back that makes 16. Doesn’t seem like a lot at first, but trust me it’s enough for one book. Truthfully, these books take time. But in the end they are SO worth it. An adorable keepsake they’ll have documenting a part of their life.

The rest of the book is up to you. Be creative. I was fortunate enough that my sister visited over the summer {sigh} so I was able to accumulate a lot of photographs of the kids. Not sure what to use when putting the books together. Some ideas are right here. The possibilities are endless. I’m simply sharing a sample of what I used.

My Dad used his drill to create the three holes that bind the pages together with the covers. It worked awesome. I held the book together tight and he lowered the drill press to put the holes in. Recommendation: These books have three ring clips in each. And that works great, but for the other three that I’m making four ring binder clips will be used. It’ll give the book just a little bit more stability. Again, three work, but I’m going to try four. Ribbon is another option in place of the clips.

Along the edge of each sheet a strip of sticker paper about an inch wide was attached for extra reinforcement. I’m speaking of the side that you will be drilling the holes into. For Cooper’s book (above) The letter C (rubberstamp) was used for his name. I alternated the C with other stamps. You could also use patterned paper cut into one inch strips. Again, be creative.

This was a good project for me because I was able to use all the scrapbook paper that I’ve been collecting over the years. I say collecting because when a buy all the pretty paper I store it in a nice container for safe keeping. Fellow craft geeks can relate with this statement.

Stickers? I like to collect them as well. Dig your stash out and use them throughout the pages.

I waited until the last minute to put them together. Why? Because I work better under pressure. Seriously, why do we wait until the last minute? I have no answer. The photos were sitting on my table for months and all of the prep work was done as I posted each update.

I’ll be working on the other three this weekend. It’s fun making six of them because it allows me to try different techniques with each one.

Now that most of my nieces and nephews are using pencils and crayons perhaps I’ll make them journals using this same concept. We’ll see what I come up with. I’m still saving all of my boxes and my stash is quite large. From time to time my sister sends me a box of her recycled boxes to add to the pile. Most grateful for those as well. Along with the boxes of Trader Joes cookies she includes in the package.

Leave me a comment below if you ever made a smash book. Would love to hear what tools and supplies you used.